The enigma that is Punjab will once again be under spotlight at the auctions in Jeddah as they will go in with the biggest purse of 110.5 crores. The purse puts them in an enviable position at the auction table as they can assemble a galaxy of superstars. Moreover, they can also flex their purse muscle to disturb other teams’ auction plans. That, however, would still not guarantee any success in the league for the team which hasn’t made it to the playoffs for a decade now. Their retentions also took many by surprise as they chose to keep only two uncapped players and let go of the rest.
The franchise this year will have Ricky Ponting sitting at the auction table with them as the Australian was appointed as the Head Coach of the team a few months ago after his stint with Delhi came to an end. While Ponting didn’t win a title with Delhi in all these years, he did put a few good seasons together for the franchise. It remains to be seen what can he achieve with the perennial underachievers of the league in 2025. Moreover, at the auctions, it would be interesting to see how much the team assembled has Ponting’s impression on it. The job for Punter is a massive one as the franchise will be beginning from scratch, an exercise that is not new to them. The massive purse would make the job slightly easy for the Australian.
The team decided to retain Shashank Singh who turned out to be the find of the season in 2024 with his big hitting down the order in tough chases. The other cricketer that the management has shown faith in is opener and wicket-keeper Prabhsimran Singh, a youngster who has been part of the setup for a while. While Prabhsimran is yet to have a breakout season, the youngster has shown glimpses of his talent in the last couple of seasons. Whether the talent on display was enough to merit a retention is debatable and the following season is likely to present an answer to that question. However, for now, one thing is certain that 2024 will be the year where Prabhsimran will get a long rope at the top of the order, something he got in 2023 in the absence of Jonny Bairstow and responded well.
Punjab’s Auction Strategy ahead of IPL 2025
Unlike other teams who have certain slots to fill, Punjab have to build the entire team. More importantly, they have to find a new captain now that Shikhar Dhawan has retired from the league. With their massive purse, they can pick any of the several big names who are at the auctions. With four RTMs available to them, however, they might try to bring back some of the big names that performed well for them in the last few seasons. The non-retention of Arshdeep Singh made a lot of news, especially after his performance in South Africa in November. Punjab will have a chance to use Right to Match for Arshdeep who is easily one of the best left-arm pacers in the country right now and someone who played a massive role in Team India’s T20 World Cup win in the Caribbean. Apart from Arshdeep, the team can also use the Right to Match to get Kagiso Rabada, Liam Livingstone and Ashutosh Sharma, another batter who stunned the world with his temperament and shot making in pressure situations last season.
Here are some of the players that Punjab can target at the auction
Rishabh Pant – After having been released by Delhi, the speculations are strong that Pant might be headed to Punjab. The Indian wicketkeeper is tipped to be the most expensive player at the auction and with the kind of money that Punjab have, they can definitely outbid others if they are keen on bringing Pant to Punjab. However, it remains to be seen what’s on the mind of Ricky Ponting who has worked closely with Pant at Delhi.
Shreyas Iyer – In case Rishabh Pant isn’t on the list of players Punjab wants in their lineup, Iyer definitely will be. As a captain, Iyer has turned around the fortunes of two teams in the league’s history and that’s what Punjab need after yet another forgettable season. Interestingly, at Delhi, it was Ponting who worked closely with Iyer and will have the final say about Iyer coming to Punjab or not. The team can still make Iyer the captain and have the services of Pant the batter.
Jos Buttler – Among the foreign openers at auction, Buttler might be the one who’s most likely to trigger a bidding war with multiple teams wanting the services of the T20 veteran with a proven record in the Indian T20 league. Punjab with their money can easily secure his services and get an opener who excels at the art of scoring big.
Mitchell Starc – Despite looking rusty in the first half of the T20 league in 2024, Starc raised his game to the next level when it came to the second half, especially the playoffs stage. Punjab needs such big match players if they want to make it to the playoffs for the first time after a decade.
Faf Du Plessis – While Faf might be 40, his performances across the T20 circuit suggest that he still has a few years of T20 cricket left in him. Besides, his success with St. Lucia in the Caribbean can mean the management might reach out to him to lead the side in the Indian league as well.
Saurabh Netravalkar – A late addition to the auction list, Netravalkar impressed everyone with his good performances at the T20 World Cup. He continued his good work with the Washington franchise in the USA T20 league. His coach at Washington was Ricky Ponting and it’s likely that he would want the left-arm medium pacer to show his wares in India as well.
Also Read:
Mumbai’s Tata IPL 2025 Auction Strategy
Chennai’s Tata IPL 2025 Auction Strategy
Bengaluru’s Tata IPL 2025 Auction Strategy
